Product description

More than 98 percent of human genes are shared with two species of chimpanzee. The 'third' chimpanzee is man. Jared Diamond surveys out life-cycle, culture, sexuality and destructive urges both towards ourselves and the planet to explore the ways in which we are uniquely human yet still influenced by our animal origins.

Author information

Jared Diamond is Professor of Geography at the University of California, Los Angeles. Until recently he was Professor of Physiology at the UCLA School of Medicine. He is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the widely acclaimed Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies, which also is the winner of Britain's 1998 Rhone-Poulenc Science Book Prize.

Review quote

"Eloquent and knowledgeable account of the tiny genetic difference between humans and chimps" Independent "Some biologists are just scientists; but some truly are thinkers. Jared Diamond is one of the latter. Whatever he applies himself to, his contribution is original and worthwhile" -- Colin Tudge "A fascinating portrait with more than enough uncomfortable facts to stop any dinner-party conversation in its tracks - an important book" Financial Times "Confirms Diamond as an impressive scholar and popularizer-an enjoyable, stimulating and audacious book" Nature

Editorial reviews

Winner of the 1992 Science Book Prize, this book jumps off from the well-established fact that we share most of our DNA with the two species of chimp. American zoologist Diamond looks at how our evolutionary heritage has affected the way we behave, from sex to society, from the origins of language to the destruction of the environment. Will the 2 per cent difference between our genes and those of the chimps be enough to save us from destorying the world? (Kirkus UK)